If you’ve seen the award-winning film, you wouldn’t know it. But Margot Lee Shetterly’s best-selling book, on which the movie is based, details the tie.

And that connection came to town last week.

Dr. Christine Darden, among the NASA pioneers whose story comes to light in “Hidden Figures,” is a graduate of Asheville’s Allen High School. The Methodist boarding school drew its students from far and wide. And that included the Mann family, of Monroe, who sent daughter Christine to the mountains.

Darden shared her story Tuesday morning at the Asheville Chamber’s WomanUP Celebration, an event in partnership with the Buncombe County Schools Foundation.

I chatted with Darden the evening prior about her time here and at NASA. While she remembers picnics in the mountains among activities she enjoyed while in high school, her biggest takeaways were independence and study habits (developed through mandatory daily study time).

She returned many times to visit Asheville, and over 60 years, she kept in touch with Allen math teacher Ruth Walther.

As she went through school, Darden realized she enjoyed the physical sciences and math. But she adds, “I would not necessarily say I was headed for NASA.” In fact, it was a coincidence that landed her there.

Her father encouraged her to get a teacher's certificate to ensure she'd have a job after college, which meant extra college math classes. Those courses led to a research assistantship at Virginia State and a master’s degree in applied math. When she graduated, NASA had just been on campus recruiting, she said. The careers office suggested she apply for a position, and Darden received an offer three weeks later.

At NASA, she was put in the computer pool at its Langley site in Virginia. (The film "Hidden Figures" focused on three women who were part of the West Computers, the pool of African-American women at Langley.) Darden wanted to be an engineer, but was unable to get on that track. So she made up her mind to return to college to teach.

First, though, she approached a boss and asked, “why men and women with the same backgrounds were assigned to such different jobs. The women are put in this computer pool, which is a support job for the engineers. They don’t write papers, they don’t give talks, they don’t get promoted. And the men work on their own projects, they write papers, they give talks and they get promoted.”

The answer? “Nobody ever asked that question before.”

The supervisor suggested one concern was women meeting and marrying engineers, then leaving their careers. Darden responded she didn’t believe that would be a problem with the black women.

About a week or two after that conversation, she was promoted and transferred, working on the sonic boom and supersonic aerodynamics.

She earned her doctorate in 1983 in mechanical engineering. In 1989, she was named leader of the Sonic Boom Group, developing NASA's sonic boom research program.

While she may get a lift from inspiring students with her story, she really lights up at the prospect of NASA building a supersonic low-boom aircraft for commercial use, a follow-up to the work she was doing at NASA before retiring 10 years ago. She says the hope is to have this aircraft fly by 2021. It would require the FAA to change the rules to allow supersonic flight over land, now prohibited because of the disruption caused by sonic booms.

“I’m hoping it works,” she said Monday night, voice full of anticipation.

You won't find a great deal about Darden in the "Hidden Figures" book. "I was cast in the book as standing on the shoulders of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson," she says. But she knew and regularly interacted with them in Hampton, Virginia. And on Tuesday, she cited the lessons they imparted through the movie: "They worked hard. They experienced discrimination. But they still did their jobs. They spoke up and said what they wanted."

And, ladies, that should be our takeaway from these women. (I address the ladies because, let's face it, men usually don't have a problem asking for what they want. Women often find that daunting.)

Ask for what you want. Work hard and speak up. Don't aim to be a pioneer, but know that your dedication may get you there.

Katie Wadington is the Citizen-Times news director. Email her at kwadington@citizen-times.com.